IS has released a graphic video using the Justin Bieber hashtag on Twitter, in a worrying ploy that could see the militant organisation's propaganda exposed to the tens of millions of mostly young people who follow the megastar.
The hijacking of the Justin Bieber hashtag occurred in the early hours of Friday (AEDT), with links to the video, titled "Message to Islamic West", also carrying the hashtags of ISIS and ISIL, by which Islamic State is also known, as well as the Bieber hashtag.
The 21-year-old has almost 74 million Twitter followers.
Initially released via the IS media account, the video, seen by AAP, was still available on the social media site at the time of this article being published.
The release of the video comes after a warning from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull this week that the online campaign against Islamic State must be considerably improved.
"... The Iraqi government and other anti-ISIL forces are not reacting quickly enough to contradict ISIL's online messages which have been used both to recruit new fighters and demoralise those who oppose them, and we should help them with this," Mr Turnbull said in Washington.
The 15-minute video, which was professionally produced, includes the filming of the execution of four men, who are shot in the back of the head at close range as they kneel on the ground with their hands bound.
Footage of various attacks are also shown, as are appeals for new recruits.
It also features a martyrdom video of an Islamic State fighter as he prepares to carry out a suicide bombing using a vehicle laden with explosives. The video shows the man driving the vehicle towards an enemy base, followed by a massive explosion.
The Soufan Group, a New York-based security intelligence service, in a report released last month, pointed to Islamic State's heavy reliance on social media for recruitment.
In its initial Foreign Fighters in Syria report, published in June 2014, The Soufan Group identified about 12,000 foreign fighters from 81 countries.
"Nearly eighteen months later, despite sustained international effort to contain the Islamic State and stem the flow of militants travelling to Syria, the number of foreign fighters has more than doubled," according to the updated report released last month.
Australia's top spy, Duncan Lewis, has previously described the radicalisation online of Australian Muslims as great a threat as the risk of returning foreign fighters.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation chief said in December the number of young Australians seeking to fight with groups such as the Islamic State had, however, reached "something of a plateau".
